Entries in Maps
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Digital Vision/Thinkstock(VICTORIA, Australia) -- It’s been no secret that Apple’s Maps app has its problems, but a police department in Australia has actually gone so far as to say that it is a “life threatening issue.”

It seems that motorists looking for the town of Mildura in northwestern Victoria, Australia have found themselves lost or stranded in Murray-Sunset National Park. Why? Because Apple Maps places the town smack in the middle of the park. Not only is the park 70 km (about 45 miles) from the town of Mildura, but some people said they got stranded there for up to 24 hours without food or water, and had to walk long distances to find phone reception.

As a result, the Mildura police have issued a statement "urging motorists to be careful when relying on” Apple’s Maps in iOS 6. This comes after “a number of motorists were directed off the beaten track in recent weeks.” The town has reached out to Apple and hopes there will be a fix, but for now is urging anyone traveling to the town to use other mapping software.

Apple, reached by ABC News, declined to comment on the police statement.

After Apple released its Maps app in September, and people reported misplaced towns and cities, Apple itself admitted it hadn’t lived up to its own standards. “At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers,” CEO Tim Cook wrote in a letter to Apple customers. “With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.”

Cook reiterated Apple’s commitment to improving the software last week in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. “We’re putting all of our energy into making it right. And we have already had several software updates. We’ve got a huge plan to make it even better. It will get better and better over time. But it wasn’t a matter that we … decided strategy over customers. We screwed up. That’s the fact.”

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Unlike Rick Perry’s “oops,” this one could have geopolitical consequences.

The U.S. State Department posted a faulty map on its website that alters some of the geographical boundaries of Kashmir, the disputed region between India and Pakistan, and depicted some area as part of Pakistan. The region has been a major source of tension between the two South Asian rivals since their partition in 1948.

The offending image has already been taken down, but it can still be seen in reports in the region.

“It did contain some inaccuracies which were associated with the boundaries of some geographic features,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Monday. “This was unintentional. We’re going to get the map fixed and put up a fixed map.”

She said U.S. officials have already spoken to Indian officials to explain the mix-up, but didn’t know if they had yet spoken with Pakistani officials.

Before you think it’s just a harmless map, remember that an erroneous Google map nearly caused a war between Costa Rica and Nicaragua last November when a Nicaraguan general used it to justify the occupation of an island claimed by Costa Rica.

And a 2008 typo by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, the official body under the U.S. Interior Department that lists the names and affiliations of locations around the world, mistakenly listed a string of islands claimed by both Japan and South Korea as “undesignated sovereignty” instead of belonging to South Korea, which is longstanding U.S. policy. The mistake led to a diplomatic spat.